When I first came to London form Moscow 3 years ago I have had a funny story. On my first night in one of London`s hostels I went out quite late at night and asked the receptionist what time they close so that I would still get inside when I come back. He looked at me in a weird way saying: `its a free country, mate`. And I really felt it being so during the years I`ve spent here. However, I have always had a feeling of incompleteness of so much advertised and promised freedom. I can`t really say that London has become my home as Las Vegas did for Dave Hickey.
What we find in the article is praise and love for the city, which appears to be true, honest and genuine. It is simple pleasures of life that Dave mentions that bring him (and not only him) comfort and peace. I believe that it must be that `The secret of Vegas is that there are no secrets` that is so appealing to human nature. It is a city where no false promises exist, a city where `anything could happen, a city that `treats you fair`.
What most of us are searching nowadays (it doesn`t really even matter in which area of live - take any) is hidden meaning, some underlying truth that we are so sure is concealed somewhere, we tend to forget that there shouldn`t necessarily be some sort of complication. And what we see in Hickey`s portrait of Vegas is truth in every little aspect of life. Everyone has same chances, there is no hidden reality, everything is transparent and obvious, in a way even predictable - and that`s the beauty of live there.
Vegas, furthermore, is a city that doesn't have values but, thanks to that it leaves one to who he really is with the cultural background one has accumulated. One is not running for phantom acknowledgements or awards because 'there are no socially sanctioned forms of status to ennoble one's having made it'. He wants to underline the simplicity and sincerity that you find in Vegas since it has never tried to sell itself for what it is not, a city for culture.
This unique city can definitely serve `as heart`s destination` where everyone can stop and have a break from the endless run towards the next fulfillments. If Vegas is really `a wonderful lens through which to view America` - than it might as well prove that all the rest of America is fake and one should beware of second meanings and get in touch with REAL reality.
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